Helen Lempriere and Keith Wood papers, 1822, 1894-1995

fonds

1822, 1894-1995

Graphic Materials, Textual Records, Moving Images, Nonmusical Sound Recordings, Clippings, Photographs, Posters

153144

2.37 metres of textual material (12 boxes and 2 outsize boxes)
1 videocassette (VHS) (20 mins.)
1 sound tape reel (20 mins.)
Approximately 300 photographs (4 boxes)
5 albums, chiefly photographic prints (2 boxes)
99 slides (1 box)
1 motion picture (1 box)

Helen Lempriere (1907-1991), painter and sculptor, was born in Melbourne, daughter of Charles Algernon Lempriere, grazier, and his wife, Dora Elizabeth Octavia, nee Mitchell. She was a niece of Dame Nellie Melba and a great-granddaughter of colonial Tasmanian portrait painter, Thomas James Lempriere. She studied art under Archibald Colquhoun and Justus Jorgensen. In 1945, in Melbourne, she married radio producer, Keith Augustine Wood (1912-1995), the son of Henry William Wood, miner, and his wife, Nellie, nee Moran. A year later the couple moved to Sydney and in 1947 they began building their residence, ‘Towri’, at Hunters Hill.

Helen and Keith lived in Paris, 1950-1958, where she studied under Ferdinand Léger and the Dutch artist Fred Klein, and he produced and marketed educational radio programs for UNESCO. Helen's reputation as a painter flourished in Europe and England, where she lived from 1958 to 1965, after a number of solo exhibitions which featured Australian Aboriginal themes. She also exhibited at the Chase Gallery in New York, 1958 and 1960.

In 1966 Helen and Keith returned to Sydney and lived at Bayview. In the late 1960s they formed Lemwood Productions Pty Limited to produce and distribute documenatray and educational films. In 1970 Keith produced, and Helen was art director of, the film ‘Rajarata – Land of Kings’, about the lost cities of North Ceylon. Another film followed in 1971-1972, being ‘Centralia’, about the area of central Australia embracing Alice Springs, Glen Helen Gorge, Hermansburgh, Ayres Rock, the Olgas and adjacent regions. In 1993-1994 Woolloomooloo Gallery held a two-part retrospective exhibition on Helen Lempriere’s work.

References:
Compiled from the collection
Dictionary of Australian Artists Online. http://www.daao.org.au/main/read/3931 (accessed January 8, 2009)

This collection chiefly documents the career of Australian painter, Helen Lempriere, and her personal and working relationships with her husband, Keith Wood. The papers include Lempriere's correspondence with fellow artists, curators, gallery owners and patrons, complemented with Woods' papers reflecting his active support of her talent and international status. Also included are business records of Lemwood Productions Pty Limited, the couple's joint venture into film production.

SERIES 01
Helen Lempriere papers, ca. 1822, 1915-1990

SERIES 02
Keith Wood papers, 1928-1995

SERIES 03
Helen Lempriere and Keith Wood papers mainly regarding her art and exhibitions, 1954-1994

SERIES 04
Helen Lempriere and Keith Wood papers regarding and records of Lemwood Productions Pty Limited, ca. 1940-1974, 1990

SERIES 05
Family, formal and studio photographs of Helen Lempriere and Keith Wood, including photographs and slides of her art work, ca. 1900-1993